Trump’s Far-Right Supporters Turn on Him Over Syria Strike

Some of President Trump’s most ardent campaign supporters were among his most vocal opponents on Thursday after he ordered the missile strike against Syria, charging him with breaking his promise to keep the United States out of another conflict in the Middle East.

Richard Spencer, a far-right activist and white nationalist who coined the term “alt-right,” said he condemned the attack and hinted at supporting another presidential candidate in 2020: Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat. Ms. Gabbard met with President Bashar al-Assad of Syria in January and on Thursday criticized the missile strike as shortsighted and reckless.

For some on the far right, particularly those who are pro-Russia, Mr. Trump’s strike crossed a line.

But others praised the president for his quick military decision, which came three days after the Syrian government’s deadly chemical weapons attack on its own people, including children.

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President Trump retaliated against the Assad government for a chemical attack in Syria that killed more than 80 civilians.CreditCredit...Ford Williams/U.S. Navy

Laura Ingraham, a conservative commentator, noted that the strike brought together three frequent critics of the president — the Republican senators Marco Rubio of Florida and John McCain of Arizona, as well as his Democratic opponent last fall, Hillary Clinton.

The schism among the president’s far-right supporters had been building since Mr. Trump said his attitude toward Syria had “changed very much” after the chemical weapons attack. His comments signaled a discernible shift in White House policy, and from his stance during the presidential campaign.

Some of those supporters claimed, without evidence, that the chemical weapons attack was a hoax carried out by the “deep state” — what they believe to be a nebulous network of military officials working behind the scenes — to drag the United States into war. Scott Adams, the cartoonist who created Dilbert, wrote on his website on Thursday before the missile strike that the chemical weapons attack appeared to be a “manufactured event.”

A few hours before the missile strike, the far-right blogger Mike Cernovich warned his followers in a live video that the United States was going to attack Syria. “Remind Trump who supported him,” he told his viewers. “We got to stop him.”